Racial Issues

SF Weekly Letters

"Undefeated": Fails to Defeat Cliches

Wives' Tales: Women Beat Holy Hell Out of Race, Gender Issues on VH1 Reality Shows

Both black and white women brawl on Vh1 reality programming but some don't have to deal with the burden of (mis)representing their culture.

San Franciscans Are Not Googling "the N-Word"

Hey Barry! Guess what my constituents haven't been Googling!​In 2008, Barack Obama was the rising tide that buoyed all San Francisco ships -- at least the ones that floated a bit to the left. A massive turnout for "Hope" and "Change" -- 84 percent of a swollen turnout voted for Obama -- also led t ... More >>

Live Review: Das Racist, Danny Brown and Trackademicks Play Ruby Skye, with Not a Little Irony

Das Racist at Ruby Skye on Friday.​ Das Racist Danny Brown Trackademicks Boots Riley Nov. 4, 2011 Ruby Skye Better than: A typical night at Ruby Skye. Don't blame Das Racist. The words "Ruby Skye" didn't bode well for a successful hip hop show at a club known for pedaling desensitized four- ... More >>

Das Racist Interview: "As Long as We're Getting Paid, I'm Not Really Mad at Whatever People Want to Call It"

Das Racist performs tonight at Ruby Skye.​ Das Racist wants to be taken on its own terms. Sort of. The Brooklyn-based trio consisting of Himanshu "Heems" Suri, Victor Vazquez, and hypeman/ "spiritual advisor" Ashok Kondabolu has spent more time discussing the group's motivations, identity, and ... More >>

Six Musicians Who'd Make a Better President Than Donald Trump

So, it turns out that angling to be a presidential nominee turns you into a massive racist. At least, that's all we've been able to glean so far from Donald Trump's ill-informed and bafflingly ignorant behavior over the last few weeks. "I wanna see Obama's birth certificate! I wanna see Obama's ... More >>

Apple Dumps Controversial 'Gay-Cure' App

Apple's newest position​Apple on Wednesday quietly removed the controversial "gay-cure" app created by a religious group with the goal of helping people resist their unwanted homosexual desires. Media outlets are reporting that while the company has not made any comments, the iPhone app is no long ... More >>

"Clybourne Park" and "Next to Normal": Grief Hits Home

Apple's newest position​Apple on Wednesday quietly removed the controversial "gay-cure" app created by a religious group with the goal of helping people resist their unwanted homosexual desires. Media outlets are reporting that while the company has not made any comments, the iPhone app is no long ... More >>

Das Racist Issues Drunken Antics, Fake Encores, and Love for Kate Bush at The Independent

Joseph SchellDas Racist at the Indy​Das Racist HOTTUBVin SolFebruary 2, 2011@ The Independent Better than: Dancing to Tina Turner alone in your room. The members of Brooklyn hip-hop outfit Das Racist are masters of mixing the ignorant with the intelligent without being too pretentious or ir ... More >>

Leland Yee Fans Support Boycott of Rush Limbaugh

Yummy pizza, yucky politics​Just yesterday State Sen. Leland Yee received racists death threats from someone who presumably supports Rush Limbaugh and probably believes Sarah Palin is a liberal. In the last 24 hours since the death threats were faxed to Yee's offices in Sacramento and San Francisc ... More >>

KKKatie Acquitted Of Being A Hater, Convicted of Being a Punk

I don't know art...​A San Francisco jury decided KKKatie was just a misunderstood artist after all. KKKatie, or Katherine Dunbar, was acquitted of a hate crime charge for tagging major city buildings with backward swastikas, anarchist circle-A symbols, and her triple K graffiti tag. But apparently ... More >>

Korean Americans Hate Gay Marriage Most, New Poll Reveals

FIFANot yet ready to root for same-sex marriage...​This morning the Field Poll published new results on California voters' support for same-sex marriage. On the whole, the poll was inconclusive. About 51 percent of those surveyed said they approved of gay marriage, with some 42 percent opposed. Th ... More >>

The rise and fall of an Internet sensation

FIFANot yet ready to root for same-sex marriage...​This morning the Field Poll published new results on California voters' support for same-sex marriage. On the whole, the poll was inconclusive. About 51 percent of those surveyed said they approved of gay marriage, with some 42 percent opposed. Th ... More >>

Clint Eastwood's Invictus: All's well that ends well

FIFANot yet ready to root for same-sex marriage...​This morning the Field Poll published new results on California voters' support for same-sex marriage. On the whole, the poll was inconclusive. About 51 percent of those surveyed said they approved of gay marriage, with some 42 percent opposed. Th ... More >>

Stateless: More vaudeville than hip-hop

FIFANot yet ready to root for same-sex marriage...​This morning the Field Poll published new results on California voters' support for same-sex marriage. On the whole, the poll was inconclusive. About 51 percent of those surveyed said they approved of gay marriage, with some 42 percent opposed. Th ... More >>

The Man Who Cried Dust

Christopher Muhammad's fight with Lennar over toxic dust has resulted in a restraining order against him, an accusation that he's a shakedown artist, and grudging respect from his rivals.

Also Playing

Our critics weigh in on local theater

Buzz Kill

The Secret Life of Bees is all honey, no sting.

Paris

Acid Reflex (Guerilla Funk)

Anonymous 101

Acid Reflex (Guerilla Funk)

The Joke's on You, Dog

Acid Reflex (Guerilla Funk)

Liberating Dance

Acid Reflex (Guerilla Funk)

Where There's Smoke

Yet more allegations of racism and mismanagement reveal smoldering tensions within the Fire Department

Because of Dixie Win

CSA envisions life today if the South had won the war

What's Really Wrong With the Lower Fillmore?

Could it be the activists who claim they're trying to rebuild it?

Suffer the Little Muslims

A look at the appalling discrimination against Middle Eastern students countenanced by Bay Area public schools

Dramatic Understatement

Hip hop meets 1930s Germany in the theater piece Stateless

Louder Than Bombs

For MC Immortal Technique, planting the seeds of revolution ain't nothin' but a g-thang

Geisha Fixation

Two seemingly unrelated plays take different approaches to racial concerns

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Ethnic Warfare

A bitchy academic fight within SFSU's College of Ethnic Studies puts the future of the program in question

Letters to the Editor

Week of October 1, 2003

Black and True

The best and worst of the AfroSolo Arts Festival

InvAsian: Growing Up Asian and Female in the United States

A compendium of diverse writings (some better than others) from an oft-overlooked perspective

Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority

McWhorter makes excellent points; we just wish he'd stop there

Brown Glass Windows

San Francisco's poet laureate, devorah major, turns out an intelligent, provocative novel about African-American life in the Fillmore District

Spinning Into Butter

An exploration of racism at its volcanic core

Southern Discomfort

Travis Somerville's paintings have been called provocative, brilliant - and racist

South to the Future

What's Red and White and Black all over: A leftist weekly insults a liberal black politician

Stage Capsules

What's Red and White and Black all over: A leftist weekly insults a liberal black politician

Shaky Ground

Environmental activists adopt a new strategy -- playing the race card

Savage Love

Environmental activists adopt a new strategy -- playing the race card

Tense Alliance

A conversation with the makers of Blacks and Jews, a highlight of the 17th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Bus to Nowhere

Why San Francisco's Byzantine school desegregation program systematically fails the children it was designed to help

Back to School

Why San Francisco's Byzantine school desegregation program systematically fails the children it was designed to help

Quota Quandary

As Proposition 209 seeks an end to affirmative action by state institutions, minority groups are conflicted

The Fire Next Time

As a civil rights advocate, Bob Demmons called in the federal government to end racism in the Fire Department. Now that he's chief, he has to remove federal control and prove that firefighters can manage race relations on their own.

Bedeviled by Color

Devil in a Blue Dress depicts the '40s antecedents of L.A.'s racial fracturing